Just over four days before its scheduled unveiling, more potential details have emerged regarding Apple’s eagerly-anticipated iWatch device.
According to the New York Times’ well-connected tech scribe Brian Chen, the company’s first wearable will have a “unique flexible screen” which appears to corroborate various reports claiming the device will wrap around the wrist of wearers.
Chen also claims it’ll be compatible with Apple’s planned expansion into the mobile payments market, with users able to pay for items wirelessly using the watch.
The iWatch, the report claims, will have a “tiny” circuit board that’s smaller than a postage stamp, can be charged wirelessly and will indeed pack a host of sensors that will allow users to keep track of their health and fitness with improved accuracy over the trackers currently on the market.
The report, which cites direct leaks form Apple employees, claims: “The company put an enormous amount of time and money in the wearable device’s sensors so that they would track movements and vital signs, like heart rate and footsteps, much more accurately than existing fitness devices, two employees said.
“It has a flexible display panel that is protected by a cover composed of sapphire, a type of tougher glass, they said. The device’s circuit board, which includes its sensors and chips, was described as tiny, about the size of a postage stamp.
“For replenishing the battery, the smartwatch will rely on a wireless charging method. Apple had at one point tested solar charging for the watch, but that experiment failed.”
The report also backed up the rumours the iWatch will not go on sale until 2015, but it’ll be worth the wait according to one analyst.
Tim Bajarin told the paper: “I believe it’s going to be historic. The design of this product is all Tim’s [Cook] fingerprints.”
Elsewhere in the report, it was again stated that two iPhones will make an appearance at next week’s big launch, expected to be 4.7-inch and 5.5-inches in size.
Apple plans to live stream the event on September 9 and the Trusted Reivews team will, as usually be ready to bring you all of the announcements and reaction as it happens.
Read more: iWatch to launch in two sizes with 8GB of storage?
Via: Gizmodo